Who Killed Jack McCoy?
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: Jack is shot and the detectives close in on an unusual former acquaintance of his during the investigation.
1. Chapter 1

Who Killed Jack McCoy?

Author's Note: This story ties in with an SVU story I did, "The Road to Hell". Hope you enjoy

It was 10 o' clock in the morning and the trial was starting again. It came time for the cross examination of the defense witness but the cross examiner was nowhere to be found. Serena Southerlyn stood up and went before the judge with her heart in her throat, not really believing what she was about to do.

"Well Miss Southerlyn," Judge Rosalyn Lenz said, "Where's your other half?"

"Your Honor," Serena said, "The people request a continuance before we can proceed any further with this trial."

"Objection," Barry Kaufer for the defense said as he stood up from his seat at the table, "If Mr. McCoy doesn't find it relevant enough to be here for his own cross examination…"

"Your Honor," Serena said, "I can assure you Mr. McCoy has a valid reason for not being present at the trial today."

"And what might that be?" Barry asked.

Serena turned around and looked at him, and for a few seconds, said nothing, as though she were fighting with herself over what the truth was. Finally she answered, for everyone in the courtroom to hear, "Jack McCoy was found last night on 55th Street, shot in the chest."

The courtroom was an uproar of gasps and hushed voices whispering amongst themselves. The judge ordered silence and granted the People's motion for a continuance and adjourned the trial for the day. Everybody got up to leave and Serena, as calmly and professionally as she could, exited through the doors and then ran down the hall to reach the street as fast as she could.

* * *

The previous night, Lennie Briscoe and John Munch, both off duty, were walking about the city after occupying two seats in a bar for several hours, talking to each other and having yet another discussion about John's ex-wife and Lennie's ex-girlfriend, Gwen.

"I can't believe she ever saw anything in you," John said, "_What_ could she possibly see in you?"

"Well not to sound offensive, John, but maybe you should ask her that yourself," Lennie suggested.

"I will," John replied, his words a bit slurred, he'd had a lot to drink that night.

They heard the blare of a police siren and looked and saw a car come speeding down the street. It screeched to a stop at the curb outside of the bar, and the passenger door opened revealing Rey Curtis at the wheel.

"Lennie, get in," he said, "There's been a shooting."

"In progress?" Munch asked.

"No," Rey shook his head, "They found a guy in the street, shot once, the shooter's gone."

"Dead?" Lennie asked as he got in.

"I don't know."

"I'll follow you," Munch told them.

Lennie didn't argue with Munch about his condition to drive, there wasn't time for that. They went barreling down the street until they arrived at the crime scene. The entire street was lit up with blue and red siren lights from ambulances and cop cars and blinding headlights from all the vehicles. Rey stopped and they got out and went to speak to one of the officers who was already on the scene.

"What've we got?" Lennie asked.

"White male, late 40s I guess."

"You guess? He doesn't have an I.D.?" Munch asked.

"We haven't had time to check yet, the medics are trying to make sure he doesn't croak before they get him to the hospital," the officer told them.

They went over to the section of the street that was cordoned off and saw paramedics loading the victim onto a gurney. The lights from the surrounding vehicles cast a glare on the man, making it about impossible for them to actually see him. They stood the gurney up and wheeled it over to the ambulance and in passing, the detectives saw who the victim was.

"Oh my God," Lennie said, "It's Jack!"

"Gun was found next to the body," the officer told them, "We're having it shipped to the lab for testing as we speak."

"Any witnesses?" Munch asked.

"None yet that we've been able to find."

"Well who called it in?" Rey asked.

The officer pointed and they saw a young woman over by the curb. She looked to be somewhere in her late teens or early twenties. Her hair was bobbed short and she was dressed in light blue jeans and a jacket, as she stood there taking in the chilly night air, she shook slightly and shifted her weight from one foot to another as she waited. John adjusted his glasses and remarked, "Holy crap, it's Toni Keller."

"Who?" Rey and Lennie asked.

"Jack McCoy was the witness when she broke a guy's neck in the men's room at the courthouse last year," Munch said.

"What?!" Rey asked.

The three detectives went over to speak to her.

"Toni?"

She looked at Munch and said, "Do I know you?"

"John Munch, Manhattan SVU."

"Oh yeah, Elliot's friend," she said, "How is Elliot?"

"He's fine…when did you get back to New York?"

"A couple weeks ago."

"Did you see what happened here, Miss Keller?" Lennie asked.

"Uh…I was walking by here, heading for home…I heard some noise, I don't know what…I turn around, I hear gunfire…I see Jack fall down, the guy dropped the gun and ran off…"

"Did you know it was Mr. McCoy right away?" Lennie asked.

"No, I ran over to see if I could help and I recognized him," she said, "The guy took off, and he disappeared before I could get a good look at him, I…"

"You called 911?"

"Yes, I…"

"From where?"

"There's a payphone at the corner," she answered, "I don't have a cell phone, I…"

"Did he say anything?" Rey asked.

"I thought he might've already been dead but I wasn't sure. After I made the call I tried to help him…I tried to stop the bleeding…I didn't have one damn clue what I was doing."

"At least you tried, it's more than most would've done," Lennie told her, "Which way did the shooter run?"

"That way," she pointed down the street.

"Did you get any kind of look at him?" Lennie asked, "Do you know if he was tall or short, black or white?"

"I guess he was about as tall as Jack," she explained, "He looked white, but I don't know for sure. Is Jack going to be alright?"

"We'll find out when we go to the hospital," Lennie said.

"I sure hope so, he was the only guy who would ever help me beat a murder rap, I'm sentimental about people like that."

"Miss Keller," Lennie said, "We're going to need you to come down to the station and answer a few more questions, would you mind?" He gestured over to their car.

"In the front or back?" she asked.

"Get in the one behind it," Munch said, "I'll take you down."

"Okay."

Rey looked at Munch and asked, "When did Jack work for the defense?"

"Never," Munch answered, "His statement kept her from going to jail, instead they put her in the nuthouse."

Rey and Lennie looked to each other and Lennie remarked, "Boy, have we missed a lot."

* * *

"The doctors at the hospital say that Jack got lucky," Rey told Toni when they got to the station, "The bullet went straight through and missed any major organs or arteries or any bones. In a few days he should be able to leave."

"But the bullet went in his chest and out his back," Lennie said, "Meaning there should've been a slug in the street for CSU to recover, but there wasn't. Do you know anything about that?"

Toni shrugged, "Maybe it rolled down the grate and into the sewer, I don't know, I was too busy trying to get help before Jack died."

"Are you sure that you didn't see the guy who shot him?" Rey asked.

"He took off so fast, it was mainly a blur," she said.

"Did you see anybody else around at that time?" Lennie asked.

She shook her head, "I didn't see anybody, but I know that doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't."

From somewhere off in the station they heard a man calling Toni's name. They turned around and saw her father, Tony Keller, storming through the place, trying to find her.

"Daddy?"

He looked up and saw her, "Aha!" and just about stepped over six officers and three desks to get to her.

"How'd you find out I was here?" Toni asked.

"Elliot called me."

"Well who called Elliot?"

Lennie turned and saw Munch leaning against the wall looking like the cat that swallowed the canary.

"Now what's all this about?" Tony asked.

"Everything's fine," Toni tried to tell him.

"Oh sure, I always swing by the police department in the middle of the night to pick up my daughter," he sarcastically remarked, and said to the detectives, "What're you trying to charge her with? Anything you say she did, she didn't do, I know my daughter."

"Mr. Keller," Lennie stood up and remained as calm and civil as he could, "We're not accusing anybody of anything. Tonight, Jack McCoy the EADA was shot and your daughter was a witness to the shooting, we need to ask her a few more questions and then we can gladly send her home with you."

Tony was taken aback. "That's what this is about?"

Lt. Van Buren came up and got his attention. "Mr. Keller…"

Tony turned around and saw her, "Yes?"

"I'm Lieutenant Van Buren, I understand that this is all very confusing…things are a little crazy here tonight so if you could just go wait in the other room until we're done here…"

"Oh, okay, sure," he replied, "Sorry."

Tony left the room but before the detectives could ask another question, Van Buren told them, "I wanted to get him out of here before I broke the news because I know what he's like when he blows his temper."

"What's up?" Lennie asked.

"A set of prints was found on the gun that shot Jack McCoy, there was only one set of prints," she told them, "And they match with Toni Keller."


	2. Chapter 2

Toni Keller fell back against the chair at Van Buren's words.

"You don't believe _I_ shot McCoy," she said.

"Well I know it's late and we're all tired," Lennie said, "But you have to admit the pieces seem to fit. No witnesses, only one set of prints on the gun, and why would the gunman leave the murder weapon next to the body to be found?"

"_Why_ would I shoot him?" Toni asked.

"Toni!"

Elliot Stabler burst into the room and went over to the girl he'd met years ago on an SVU case.

"Mr. Keller," Van Buren said. Elliot turned around and looked at her, "Oh, Detective Stabler…"

The resemblance bore between Elliot and Toni's father was so remarkable that anybody who did see the two of them close together had great difficulty telling them apart.

"What's going on here?" Elliot asked, "Munch calls me, gets me out of bed and tells me you're trying to arrest Toni for a murder."

"Attempted murder," Lennie corrected him, "Jack McCoy was shot tonight, she called it in, she was the only witness, and the gun has her prints and her prints only on it."

Toni looked to Elliot and said, "Elliot, you know I'd never shoot anybody, especially not Jack after what he did for me. What reason would I have?"

"That's the thing, kid," Lennie told her, "A motive isn't always necessary, especially when the physical evidence can speak for itself. The facts are your prints _are_ on that gun."

"You really think I shot him?" Toni asked, "Fine." She held out her right hand.

Lennie didn't get what she was doing, so he slapped her five before asking, "What was that about?"

"Give me a nitrate test, that'll prove that I didn't do this," she said.

Rey looked to Van Buren who motioned for him to follow her out of the room. They quietly slipped out behind everybody else and Van Buren told him, "The fact that she would up front demand a powder residue test tells me she didn't do it."

The door opened behind them and Lennie, Elliot and Toni stuck their heads out.

"Who would want to kill Jack McCoy?" Toni asked, "That's the question you need to find an answer for."

"Unfortunately, the DA is not a well liked figure," Lennie told her, "He raises a lot of controversy in most of the cases he tries."

"He's trying one currently, isn't he?" Elliot asked, "That gang killing."

"You think they did this?" Rey asked.

"Why not?" Elliot replied, "They pull stuff like this all the time. You might want to look into whoever's being tried and see if they've had any visitors or made any phone calls recently. Gangs order hits from behind bars all the time."

"And McCoy wouldn't be the first lawyer they've ordered a hit on either," Van Buren added.

"What hospital did they take him to?" Toni asked, "I want to make sure he's alright."

"You're not going anywhere until you can answer why your prints are on that gun," Lennie said.

She turned around and looked at him with wide eyes. "You don't still think I did this."

"No I don't, but if we find the guy and this goes to trial, the defense will want to know the same thing and if you don't have a good answer, they could turn this thing to you," Lennie told her, "So what were you doing with the gun?"

* * *

"You'd think with an ADA in the hospital, shot and about to die, the media would be on it," Munch said as they headed to the hospital.

"Maybe they haven't found out yet," Elliot thought.

"The press finds out everything," Munch told him, "They've got spies everywhere that contact them the minute something goes awry so they're the first on it."

"Not this again," Elliot said as he stuck his fingers in his ears, "I can't listen to anymore of this."

They entered the hospital and went to the nurse at the front desk, identified themselves as police and asked about Jack McCoy's current condition.

"Would you two mind showing me your badges?" she asked.

They thought it was odd but did it anyway. She looked them over and said, "I don't suppose you two would have any opposition to me calling your boss and verifying these, would you?"

"No, not at all," Munch said, "It's Donald Cragen in Manhattan SVU."

The nurse stepped away from her paperwork and made a phone call to make sure the two men standing before her were who they said they were. After a minute she hung up and told them that their story checked out.

"You were asking about Jack McCoy?"

"Yes."

"He hasn't regained consciousness since he was brought in but he appears to be doing very well considering the bullet didn't lodge into anything serious and came right out. He was moved to a private room for obvious reasons," the nurse told them, "On the third floor, room 310."

"Thanks."

They took the elevator up.

"I wonder if he got a look at the guy," Elliot thought.

"I wonder if he'll be able to talk when we're there," Munch said.

There was a pause between them before Elliot said, "Did Toni tell you when she got back to New York?"

"A few weeks ago," he said, "I'm guessing she found a good plastic surgeon, did you notice? You can hardly see what that nut did to her face now."

"I noticed," Elliot responded, "I guess with enough money, anything _is_ possible. But where's her father tonight while all this is going on?"

"You missed the fireworks," Munch said, "He came storming in about five minutes before you showed up, you should've seen him, practically crawling over everything to get to her, yelling at the cops."

Elliot laughed, "Nice to see some things never change." He looked at Munch and said, "You don't think Toni _did_ do this, do you?"

"Why would she?" Munch asked, "I should think if somebody got me off for murder, I'd be very grateful."

The doors opened and they got off on the third floor and headed over to the room number the nurse had given them. They went in and saw Jack in the hospital bed, and he appeared to be asleep, but he had his hands in the air and looked like he was trying to choke something.

The two detectives looked at each other and without speaking, debated over who should go first and try to wake him up. Elliot went and Munch followed behind him. Elliot wasn't sure how to go about this so he just called out, "Hey Jack, are you awake?"

Jack's eyes popped open and he looked around before realizing who was talking to him.

"Oh it's you," he said, his voice a bit weaker than usual.

"I'll take it you were expecting someone else?" John asked.

Jack groaned and said, "I dreamt that my father was still alive, and I was trying to choke the little bastard."

"You?" Munch asked, laughed, "You, Mr. Nobody-has-the-right-to-kill?"

"Yes, me," Jack wearily nodded his head, "What's going on? What are you doing here?"

"Jack," Elliot said, "Do you even know where you are?"

"I…" Jack got a better look around the room and was taken aback, "What am I doing in the hospital?"

"You don't remember?"

Jack looked down and saw the bandages on his chest. "I was shot?"

"They brought you in hours ago," Elliot said.

Jack closed his eyes and thought about it for a minute, "I remember."

"Did you see who it was?" Munch asked.

"No, I heard my name called, and as I turned around, he shot me and ran off."

"You're sure it was a man?"

Jack looked up at them, "Of course I'm sure it was a man! Why wouldn't I be?"

Munch and Elliot looked at each other for a second and Munch explained, "The police think Toni Keller did it."

"What?" Jack asked, "Wait, wait, which Tony Keller?"

"The one who broke Tobias Wentworth's neck last year," Elliot said.

"Oh," Jack seemed to be relieved by that answer, "No it wasn't her, why?"

"She's back in town and she was the one who called it in."

"So?"

"Her prints were found on the gun," Munch said, "And nobody else's."

"Swell," Jack grumbled as he pulled the sheet up higher, "That'll look great for a jury."

Munch couldn't help laughing, "You're nearly killed and you're still thinking like a lawyer?"

"Well, she demanded they test her for residue so I don't see how it could be her," Elliot said.

"Well that's very simple," Jack told him, "She didn't do it."

"But you didn't see the guy who did shoot you?"

"No, he got me before I turned around and he ran off…I don't remember anything after that."

"Well Toni said that she went to see if you were dead," Munch said, "You don't remember seeing her?"

"I remember Toni Keller very well, Sergeant Munch," Jack told him, "A person like that you would _remember_ seeing."

"Maybe not," Munch told him, "She's had some work done since the last time you saw her."

The door opened behind them and Elliot and Munch turned to see Lennie and Rey coming in.

"Well?" Elliot asked.

"No powder," Lennie said, "She didn't do it."

"I could've told you that," Jack said.

"Yeah but your word doesn't go for too much these days," Lennie replied.

Rey went over to the bed and asked Jack how he was doing.

"Considering I was shot in the chest I think I'm doing alright," he answered.

"Good, because someone came with us and wants to see you."

"Already I can guess it's not my daughter," Jack said.

"No but I think she'll be a close second," Lennie remarked as he opened the door.

Toni entered the room and her father came in with her. They went over to Jack's bed and he looked up and saw her, and saw the man behind her. He blinked and looked from Tony to Elliot and back at Tony and they both looked exactly alike.

"Boy oh boy," he said, "I've got to find out what kind of painkiller they've got me on."

* * *

"Jack didn't get a look at the guy who did it, but he's sure it was a guy," Lennie told Van Buren when they returned to the department.

"Great, put two eyewitnesses' descriptions together and we have a guy who may be tall and may be white," she replied, "And the gun?"

"22 caliber piece of junk, can't be traced back to anything or anybody."

"This just gets better," she remarked, "Did you find out what Jack was doing on 55th Street?"

"The morphine started to kick in before he could give us a full story but it doesn't sound like he knew anything was wrong," he said, "However he suggested we check out his home to see if anything's happened there while he was gone."

"It's going to be a long night," Rey said.

* * *

"Did Jack say if he left the door unlocked?" Rey asked when they got to the place.

"We'll have to check with him when he regains consciousness," Lennie said, "Though right offhand I don't see anything that looks out of the ordinary, the windows are all closed, there's no sign of forced entry. Nothing's been ransacked."

They checked through Jack's home over the next hour, leaving no stone unturned and coming up with nothing. The place was secure in terms of no breaking and entering, nothing seemed to be missing and the place seemed to be about as neat as Jack would probably have kept it.

"Nothing here," Lennie said, "So what're we figuring, that this was just a random shooting?"

"Jack said the guy called him by name just before he shot him," Rey recalled, "So the guy had to know him, makes it harder to be a random crime."

"Well who doesn't know Jack McCoy?" Lennie asked.

Rey started looking around the living room again and saw a red light blinking on Jack's answering machine.

"Somebody called while he was out," he said.

"Our luck it'll be a telemarketer," Lennie said, "Go ahead, hit it."

Rey pressed the button and the message replayed itself.

"You're going to die tonight if you don't watch your back, McCoy."

Then the beep sounded.

"Cheery fellow, isn't he?" Lennie asked, "Okay, Jack clearly never got this message, so what does that tell us?"

"That Jack was already out when the guy called," Rey said.

"Right, but why would anybody leave that kind of message if they couldn't get the person directly?" Lennie asked.

Rey pressed the button to play the outgoing message, "This is Jack McCoy…"

"That's not much of a message, is it?" Lennie asked, "No song and dance about after the beep, not _even_ a beep."

"There's a glitch in it," Rey said, "So the guy calls, he hears this, he thinks he's talking to Jack directly."

"Which leaves the question," Lennie said, "How did this guy, whoever he is, know where Jack would be tonight?"

Rey played the message again and listened to it and commented, "Hey Lennie, doesn't that voice sound familiar to you?"

"Play it again."

They listened to the threatening message a third time and Lennie said, "You're right. Whoever this guy is, we've heard him before, but who is it?"


	3. Chapter 3

Elliot returned to the hospital early the next morning to see if there was any improvement in Jack's condition. The drugs had kicked in and Jack had drifted off to sleep before he could answer the rest of the detectives' questions.

When he got up to the third floor and reached the door to Jack's room, Elliot heard Jack yelling at somebody. Automatically assuming the worst, Elliot burst into the room only to find Jack bickering with a doctor.

"You try that one more time and I'm going to forget my position as a lawyer and kick your butt up to your teeth," Jack said, "Now there's a man three rooms down the hall who's been screaming for half an hour for a sponge bath, why don't you go pester _him_ with your cold hands and freezing stethoscope?"

The doctor took the hint and disappeared out of the room, Elliot went over to the bed and saw Jack. He was looking better today, some of his color had returned, though Elliot suspected that was in part from getting worked up over the staff.

"So I take it you're feeling better today," Elliot said.

"I feel like crap," Jack responded, "I can't wait to get out of here."

"Now you're not thinking of forgoing medical treatment just because you don't like the doctors, are you?"

"Those idiots are going to kill me with their stupidity if I don't go home soon," Jack told him, "Have you found out anything new?"

"We canvassed the area all night and anybody else who heard or thought they'd heard anything were all after the fact. Toni's the only one who actually saw or heard anything at the time it happened."

"One eyewitness, this isn't going to look good," Jack said.

"Jack, I think you need to stop thinking like an attorney, you were shot, you could've died."

"That's right," Jack replied smugly, "And as soon as I find out who did it, I'm going to try them for my attempted murder."

"_If_ we find out who did it," Elliot said, "So far we have nothing, no prints on the gun that can match to powder residue, the gun is so junked up they can't trace it back to anything, nobody got a good look at who shot you, and there are thousands of people in this city alone who would love to see you dead."

"Nobody ever said being a prosecutor was easy."

"Jack, what were you doing out on 55th Street last night?"

"I was restless and decided to go for a walk, and until further notice, being a pedestrian isn't a crime."

"Okay, did anybody know you were going out?" Elliot asked.

"No."

"So this looks like it could be a random attack," Elliot said, "Except the guy identified you by name. Unless he followed you out of your home, he would've just seen the back of your head, he couldn't have identified you by just that. Now tell me, you're currently trying a murder case, aren't you?"

"That's right, I was supposed to be in court today for cross-examination," Jack answered, "Oh my God, Serena…I have to call her."

"I'm sure somebody already took care of that," Elliot said, "Do you think the gang members could be responsible for this?"

"I don't think so," Jack answered, "That Latino gang we're trying, when they send somebody out for a hit, they look for one of their own…I've seen these guys, not a one of them isn't half covered in tattoos, they all shave their heads, they all wear piercings on their faces."

"But you said you didn't get a look at the guy who shot you," Elliot said.

"No, however I got a good enough look right before I blacked out to see that the guy was wearing a tan overcoat and a black fedora." He shook his head, "When somebody in the gang goes out for a kill, anybody who will come forth with information always has them in blue jeans and muscle shirts. You tell me why all of a sudden they'd be dressing like Sam Spade."

"To throw us off the trail," Elliot said.

"They don't think like that. They _want_ everybody to know who they are, they brag about how many murders they get away with because everybody's too scared to do anything about them," Jack told him.

"Alright," Elliot was trying to put the pieces together, "So it probably wasn't related to this case you're trying. What about a past case? Is there anybody from a previous case you tried where the killer was middle or upper class who might try this?"

"Oh there are hundreds of those who would love to see me dead but I really don't think we have the time to thumb through them all," Jack told him, "Might see however, about getting Briscoe and Curtis to see if any of them have come up for parole recently."

"Knock-knock," Lennie said as he and Rey entered the hospital room, "We interrupting something?"

"Nope," Elliot insisted, "I was just on my way out. I'll see you guys later."

Lennie turned around and looked at Elliot suspiciously as he left the room.

"Something wrong?" Rey asked.

"You don't suppose that…" Lennie thought about it, "Na, couldn't be…"

"Did you find anything, gentlemen?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," Lennie answered, "I don't know if it was the gunman, but somebody left a threatening message on your machine last night."

"I never got it," Jack said.

"Apparently," Rey noted, "Your outgoing message cut itself short so it sounds like the caller is talking to you live, and whoever called it in said you were going to die if you didn't watch your back."

"Hmmm, I don't suppose they said _why_, did they?" Jack asked.

"Nope," Lennie shook his head, "But you know, I'd swear that we've heard this guy somewhere before."

"Makes sense," Jack commented, "They go through all this trouble to kill me, they probably would know me."

"Yeah Jack but here's the thing," Lennie said, "It sounds like somebody we've talked to before, but I don't think it's a suspect…I think it's somebody who works within the system…another lawyer, another detective, somebody that we work with."

This got Jack's attention and his eyes widened a bit, "I want to hear this tape, and as soon as possible. And did you check the phone records to see where the call came from?"

"Yeah," Rey answered, "Came from a payphone on the corner of 67th Street."

"Let's see, he calls when I'm not there, 12 streets off from where he shoots me…where did he go after making the call? And when did he realize I wasn't home?" Jack asked.

"Jack," Lennie reached into his pocket and took out a little recorder, "This is the message that was found on your machine, listen to it and tell us if his voice rings any bells."

Jack took the recorder and pressed the play button and listened to the threat. When it had ended, his eyes widened again and he looked up at the detectives, "That sounds like Elliot Stabler's voice."

"That's what worried me," Lennie said.

* * *

"You're not seriously considering that Detective Stabler's behind this, are you, Lennie?" Rey asked as they drove back to the station.

"I don't know…I'm sure those two have butted heads in the past, and it would make sense, he got onto the scene of everything so fast last night."

"That's because Munch called him," Rey said.

"Now John I know wouldn't be involved in this," Lennie told him, "If he were going to kill somebody, it'd be me for sleeping with his ex-wife."

"So what now?"

"Well, I think we'd better go pay Miss Keller a visit and make sure she didn't skip town. She might not have fired that gun but I have a good idea she knows far more than she's telling us."

"How're we going to know where to find her?" Rey asked, "She didn't give us her address."

"No, but you remember Elliot called her father last night," Lennie took out his cell phone and dialed a number, "Elliot? We're going to speak to the Kellers again, do you know where they are? Uh huh…okay, goodbye."

"Well?" Rey asked.

"He doesn't know. He's going to call Tony Keller, get the address and then he's going to call us back and give it to us," Lennie said.

"Hey," Rey just thought of something, "How does Elliot have their number? He said himself he hadn't seen either of them since last year."

"I remember last night Munch said the three of them were all involved in something," Lennie said, "Could be they still are."

Rey looked over at him, "You don't think…"

"Who's going to bother asking a detective to submit to a powder residue test?" Lennie asked, "Especially one who doesn't even live in the vicinity of the shooting?"

A couple minutes later, Lennie's phone rang and when he answered, Elliot gave him the address. When the detectives arrived, they found themselves in a run down part of New York. The house number matching the one Elliot gave them, was the middle in a string of houses that looked ready for the wrecker's ball.

"If anybody's home, I'll be surprised," Lennie commented, "At least the paint's intact on this one."

"Don't see any lights on," Rey said as they headed up to the front door, "Don't hear the TV…I'd say they're not home."

Lennie grabbed the knob and turned it, "What do you know? The door's open. Yoo-hoo," he called as he stepped in, "Is anybody home?"

The house was dark and cool. Clearly nobody was home at the moment but judging by the looks of everything, it was safe to assume that they'd be back soon.

"Well if anybody _is_ here," Lennie said, "They're doing _very_ well at hide and seek."

He turned back and saw Rey looked worried. Before he could ask what, Rey drew his gun and went over to the dining room closet; the door was slightly ajar and they could make out a figure that looked like a man. Rey threw the door open and revealed it wasn't a man, just a hat and coat hung up in the closet. Both men exhaled a sigh of relief and laughed.

"You're getting too jumpy, Rey," Lennie said.

"Hey Lennie," Rey noticed, "When we were at the hospital talking to Jack, what did he say the shooter was wearing?"

Lennie caught on and pulled the door open further to get a better look at the clothes.

"Well lookie here," he said, "A tan trench coat, and a black fedora…what're the odds?"

Rey was putting it all together, but it didn't make sense. "Her father?"

"It's all circumstantial right now but it's starting to look that way," Lennie said as he closed the door again, "Of course all this is off the record so it doesn't count for anything."

They headed back out the front door and closed it and looked around the property a bit when they heard a car pull up. They looked and saw Tony and Toni Keller park at the curb in a white 1970 Cadillac.

"You remember us from last night?" Lennie asked as the father and daughter came up the sidewalk.

"Yeah," Toni said, "Lennie and…Curtis, right?"

"Eh, close enough," Lennie replied.

"Is Jack McCoy alright?" she asked.

"He's doing fine," Lennie assured her, "We just came by to see if maybe you'd remembered anything else from the night before."

She shook her head, "I've told you guys all that I know."

"Just for the record, Mr. Keller," Rey said, "We need to know where you were last night too."

"I was here in bed," Tony answered.

"With anyone?" Lennie asked.

"What?"

Lennie laughed, "Just a little joke. That's a nice car you've got…is it new?"

"New to us," Toni answered, "We just got back from the dealership with it."

"Nice car," Lennie said, "Used to have one like it…before my divorce…of course they were a lot cheaper then, how much did this have to set you back?"

"About 17 grand," Tony told them.

Lennie hissed, "That's gotta hurt."

"Not really," he replied.

"He came into some money recently," Toni said, "Finally decided to get a car, after we spent a year and a half riding the bus and taking taxis everywhere."

"Why not?" Lennie asked, "Everybody's entitled to some pleasure in this life."

"Would you guys like to come in?" Toni asked.

"No thanks, we have to get back to the precinct," Lennie said, "But if you think of anything else from last night, let us know."

* * *

"First we thought the daughter did it, now you think her father pulled the trigger?" Van Buren asked when Lennie and Rey returned and told her what they'd discovered.

"He has a coat and hat in his closet matching the description Jack gave us," Lennie said.

"And there are probably 10,000 of those hats and those coats in this city alone, and it wasn't exactly kosher the way you found out, was it?" she asked.

"We thought there was a person in the closet," Rey said.

"But nobody invited you into the house," she replied, "And without probable cause you're not allowed to kick the door in."

"Well we're not thinking he did this of his own accord," Lennie told her, "We're thinking maybe somebody paid him to shoot Jack. The day after the D.A. is gunned down, Mr. Keller is driving up in a classic car that cost nearly 20 grand."

"And when they left, they took 60 thousand dollars with them," Anita remarked.

"They've been gone a year and a half," Lennie said, "It wouldn't take long to blow through all that money."

"But you can't prove that he got the money for a Cadillac by attempting to assassinate Jack McCoy," she reminded them.

"The voice on the answering machine sounded like Elliot Stabler," Rey said, "Elliot Stabler and Tony Keller not only look alike, they sound alike, and there's no way Detective Stabler could be behind this."

"Kind of makes you wonder exactly how many kids Mrs. Stabler _did_ have," Van Buren mused momentarily.

"Here's what I'm thinking," Lennie said, "Munch calls Elliot, Elliot calls Keller, Keller gets here before Elliot, how?"

"Maybe he sped," Van Buren said.

"Or maybe he hadn't been to bed," Lennie replied, "Maybe he was already up and dressed and just waiting for somebody to call about something."

"Keller's a violent man," Rey said, "He was doing life in prison for killing three men."

"Yeah, he broke their necks," Anita reminded him, "How do you go from that, to picking up a gun and shooting at somebody?"

"It's easier to shoot somebody than to get close enough and use enough force to twist their head around," Lennie said, "And if he was paid for it…"

"We don't have proof that he was and even if he was we probably can't prove it because he most likely got paid _after_ the shooting which means he wouldn't have time for it to show up in a financials statement."

She looked at them, "Find out what dealership he got the car from, see if he paid with a check or in cash. Maybe we'll get lucky and find a money trail."

* * *

"Sure I remember," the car dealer said, "Tony and Toni, I thought it was cute."

"You did sell him a car?" Lennie asked.

"Yep, 1970 Cadillac, pure white…"

"How much did you sell it for?" Rey asked.

"He jewed me down to $17 thou…I'm a sucker for cute ones."

"The father or the daughter?" Rey asked.

"Daughter wasn't handling the money," the dealer said.

"He pay for it with a check?" Lennie asked.

"Nope, cash."

"Down payments?"

"No, that's the oddest thing…about every customer I get they want to stick to monthly payments…not this guy…he said if he's going to be driving it, it's going to be his up front. Takes out of his coat these large stacks of bills wrapped with rubber bands. I counted it twice to make sure it was exact. $17 thou exactly…" he laughed, "Little prick knew just what he wanted."

* * *

Rey and Lennie returned to the Keller house, walked up the sidewalk and pounded on the door a couple of times. Tony answered.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Keller, would you mind coming with us?" Lennie asked.

"What's going on?" Tony asked.

"We need to verify your alibi that you were home alone in bed last night when the DA was shot," Lennie said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Tony said.

"Oh, I think you are," Lennie said as he jerked the man over the threshold and started to cuff him, "Tony Keller, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Jack McCoy…you have the right to remain silent, anything you say will be used against you in a court of law."

Whether Lennie's words were audible or not was debatable since they were almost drowned out by Tony's yelling that he hadn't done anything. They started to walk him down the sidewalk when Rey heard somebody from behind scream. The next thing he knew, something had hit him and just about knocked him down and he felt Toni's legs tight against his ribs as she locked her arm around her throat.

"Let him go you bastards!" she yelled, "He didn't do anything!"

Rey knocked his elbow back and punched her and the wind went out of her and she fell off of him and onto the ground.

"Oh good a special," Lennie said, "Two for one…you just assaulted an officer of the law, lady."

"You bastards," she said as they pinned her arms behind her back, "You have no right to arrest him, he didn't do anything!"

"I'm afraid the evidence says otherwise, Miss Keller."

"No," she insisted as they hauled her to her feet and walked both of them towards the police car.


	4. Chapter 4

"You want to _what_?" Van Buren asked.

"I'm dropping the charges against Toni," Rey told her.

"Detective, she just tried to kill you!"

"She was upset, Lieu, you have two boys, can you imagine what they might do if they saw you being hauled off in handcuffs?"

Anita huffed and said, "Alright, I think you're crazy, but alright…now what about her father?"

"Well he hasn't had anything to say since we got them in the car," Lennie said, "It doesn't look too good for him but there's something we haven't considered yet. If we subject him to a residue test and he comes up negative, then we look like a bunch of idiots."

"You go talk to him about it," Van Buren said, "I'll go talk to the girl."

* * *

Toni turned around when she heard the door open. Anita stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, "Miss Keller, do you remember me?"

"Yeah, you're the nice lady from last night," she said.

"I came to let you know that Detective Curtis isn't going to be pressing charges against you," Van Buren told her.

"Well I didn't mean to jump him," she said.

"I know…I can appreciate how devastating it must've been to see the police arresting your father."

"He didn't do it," Toni insisted, "My father didn't shoot Jack."

* * *

"Why would I shoot a lawyer?" Tony asked, "Especially that guy? Do you have any idea what he did for my daughter?"

"Nobody's saying it was your own idea, Tony," Lennie replied, "But you have to admit, things aren't looking too good for you right now."

"Why?"

"For one thing we can't corroborate your alibi. A threatening message was left on McCoy's answering machine shortly before the shooting, and whoever called has a voice much like your own. The day after the D.A is shot, you come into some money and buy a new car, and pay for it all up front and in cash. If somebody paid you to fire that gun, you need to tell us so we can help you."

"I didn't shoot anybody," Tony insisted, "And I wouldn't!"

* * *

"You have to admit it does look a bit suspicious on his part," Anita said, "The morning after McCoy was shot, your father supposedly comes into some money and buys a new car and gives the dealer 17 grand up front."

"You think that's what that is about?" Toni asked, "That my father shot him for money?"

"I know it's hard to comprehend," Van Buren said.

"It's ridiculous is what it is!" Toni replied as she shoved her chair back and got up, "My father never shot a person in his life and he sure as hell wouldn't be taking potshots at the D.A. He did come into some money, in Vegas…we went there a month ago and he won $20,000 at the craps table. He doesn't believe in banks so he never deposited the money, he kept the cash. I can't believe you'd think he's the one who shot at Jack just for something like money."

"There's more than that," Van Buren told her, "Mr. McCoy got a death threat on his answering machine last night and the caller's voice matches with your father's."

* * *

"You'd better believe I won every last bit of that money at a casino in Vegas, and I paid the government every last dollar in their blood money too, so you can't hold me for that either."

"It's just a little odd, you have the money a month and just now do something with it?" Lennie asked.

"Toni just finished school, I was going to buy her a car for a graduation present, I wanted to wait until we were back in New York and settled before I did that," Tony explained, "I know people in the dealership here, I also know a reputable insurer."

"Alright, Mr. Keller," Lennie said, "If you want to cooperate with us, there is a way you can clear yourself from this."

"What's that?"

"Last night your daughter submitted to a nitrate test…if you would be so kind as to do the same, we can clear up this whole mess right now," Lennie said.

"Why the hell didn't you suggest that earlier?" Tony asked.

"I would've but you didn't give me the chance to," Lennie replied.

* * *

"Big Keller's out too," Lennie told Rey and Anita, "They both tested negative."

"So where does that leave us?" Van Buren asked.

"Well, this is just off the top of my head," Rey said, "But I think there's too many coincidences here to just be coincidence. First we thought it was the daughter, then we thought it was the father, based on the evidence that we found."

"You think somebody set them both up for the murder rap?" Lennie asked.

"That's the way it's looking to me," Rey said, "Somebody seems to have gone through a lot of trouble to make sure that's where we look first."

"I wonder if they've managed to pick up any enemies in the short time they've been back in New York," Lennie said.

"Well I wouldn't expect them to be forthcoming with us about that after everything that's gone on," Van Buren said, "Call Detective Stabler in SVU and see if he can get any answers out of them. In the meantime I suggest we find out what we can about anybody Tony Keller might've known in Rikers. If anybody he was acquainted with in prison is out now, we start looking there immediately."

* * *

The next day, Elliot went over to the Kellers' home; he got out of his car and went up to the front door and beat on it a couple of times. He didn't hear any noise from inside but after a few seconds, the door opened and there stood Toni dressed in a set of pajamas and a robe.

"Elliot," she said, "Will you shut up? Daddy's sick and he needs to sleep."

"What's wrong with him?"

"I think he got some kind of flu that's going around," she said, "What's going on?"

"Can I come in and talk to you?"

"Sure."

She held the door open and he stepped in. He followed her out of the hall and they passed by the living room where he saw Tony sleeping in a recliner.

"My room's down this way," Toni took him down another hall and opened the door on the left wall and Elliot followed her in.

"You'll have to excuse me if I doze off…I think I picked up the flu too…so what is it you wanted to talk about?" she asked.

"I heard you guys had another run-in with the police," Elliot said.

"Oh that, it was a big misunderstanding, they let us come home yesterday," she said.

"I know…but Toni, they're thinking that whoever shot Jack is trying to set you two up for the murder."

Toni just laughed as she sat on the edge of her bed, "Now that's stupid, who would want to do that?"

"You tell me," Elliot said, "Have you or your father made any enemies lately?"

"Of course not."

"Don't lie to me."

"Come on Elliot, I would tell you if I knew anything," Toni said, "Have the police looked to see if anybody Jack put away has gotten out recently?"

"They're looking into it, so far nothing," Elliot said.

"Okay…what about the guys my father knew in prison? Have they looked to see if any of those bastards have gotten out?" Toni asked.

"We didn't think of that," Elliot told her.

"Well now you have something new to consider," Toni said, "And what about what they were talking about last night? Is it possible that the guys Jack was prosecuting in the last trial are behind this?"

"Jack doesn't think so," Elliot explained.

"Hmmm…he _is_ going to be able to get out of the hospital soon, isn't he?" Toni asked.

"If you don't mind my asking, Toni," Elliot said, "Why are you so concerned about Jack's wellbeing?"

"Well I haven't been able to get back to the hospital yet to see him for myself," she told him.

"Well why would you need to?" Elliot asked.

"I figure it's the least I can do," she said.

"Why? Because he kept you from going to prison?"

"No Elliot, because he came to see me every night when I was in the loony bin."

"He what?"

"He never told you?" Toni asked.

"No he didn't. Toni, when they had you in Bellevue I came every night to see you, I never saw Jack."

"That's because he always came after you left…about a good hour after you had gone," Toni said, "After that, I figure I owe it to him to visit him until he can get out of that place."

"I don't get it," Elliot said, "Why did he come to see you? What was Jack coming to Bellevue every night for?"

She didn't answer. Elliot looked and saw that she'd fallen asleep. He drew the covers up on her and showed himself out; then he got in his car and headed for the hospital.

* * *

Jack looked up from his book and saw Elliot enter the hospital room.

"I'm going to guess you found something," Jack said.

"Why did you go to see Toni at Bellevue last year?" Elliot asked.

Jack blinked, "Excuse me?"

"I just came from her house, she told me that when they had her in the psyche ward, you went to see her every night, is that true?"

"I fail to see what business that is of yours," Jack said.

"Then it is true!"

"Of course it is," Jack responded, "Why would I lie about something like that?"

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Elliot asked, "How come you always made sure you arrived there after I left every night?"

"Well despite your charming personality, detective," Jack said, "I wasn't going there to see you."

"Why were you going to see Toni?" Elliot asked, "Is there something going on that I don't know about?"

Jack started to laugh, but restrained himself and said, "There's a joke in that somewhere, but I'm not going to say what I'm thinking."

"Why were you seeing her every night?" Elliot asked.

"Because I figured she could use the company," Jack answered.

"What?" Elliot said, "You're not serious."

"Morbid curiosity got the better of me," Jack told him, "After she was committed, I decided I had to go to Bellevue and see what it was making this young woman tick. Pandora's Box opened and I fell down the rabbit hole."

"She has a tendency to do that," Elliot replied.

"Before I realized it, I was pouring my guts out to her, about my life, about my father…I've never told a person that I wanted to kill my father, that I still do…but I told her…why the hell did I tell her?"

"Why were you telling her about your life?" Elliot asked.

"Because I didn't figure she'd want to relive all her own memories after everything she'd been through," Jack answered, "I was surprised. I've seen people who after being through so much torment are dead inside but still walking around," Jack shook his head, "That wasn't her…she was still alive…"

Elliot tried to think of how to say what he had to say, "Had you ever met Toni before she came to us about Tobias Wentworth?"

"No," Jack answered with only a single beat between Elliot's question and his response.

"Okay," Elliot said, "Because…the police are taking into consideration the fact that somebody has gone through a lot of trouble to make she and her father look guilty for your shooting. We're trying to figure out if there's a connection between the Kellers and you."

Jack shook his head, "I never laid eyes on her until she was in court."

"And afterwards?"

"I went to see her once…to find out what she was…I found myself going back every night until they released her. I talked about my life because between the two of us, I really didn't think she'd have any interest to talk about hers. One night I stayed six hours and listened to her talk about everything that had happened to her." He saw the inquisitive look on Elliot's face, a look that simultaneously said he had to know, and that he didn't want to know. "I don't know if she was raped…I'm not even sure _she_ knows…but listening to her explain it, you'd think she was forecasting the weather, she couldn't have cared less about it."

"I have to ask," Elliot said, "Can you think of anybody who would want to make Toni or her father the fall guy for your attempted murder?"

"I don't know…anybody can find out about what happened when Tobias Wentworth was murdered…from there they can probably put two and two together…but when I add them up, I'm getting five. Why would anybody figure Toni Keller would be a likely suspect for this? As far as I know, neither she nor her father has any grudge against me."

"How well do you know her father?" Elliot asked.

"I confess, not too much, but I figure if he had a problem with the way I handled things, he would've let me know before now," Jack responded.

"We're looking into people you put away, people he knew in Rikers, so far we're not coming up with anything," Elliot said, "We can't connect anybody to this."

"Needle in a haystack," Jack said, more to himself than to Elliot, "How do you find it? How do you find the needle?"

Elliot looked at him, "Burn down the haystack."

"You've taken the Kellers out of it already…but you better make sure nobody's throwing matches at _them_ yet," Jack said.

Elliot's eyes opened a bit wider, "You don't think…"

"If the police have already ruled them out as suspects, whoever's behind this may also know it and decide there's no use for them now," Jack said, "I hope I'm wrong, but you better make sure of it."

Elliot left the hospital and sped back to the Keller house. When he got there, he rushed out of the car and up to the front door. He beat on the door and received no answer so he showed himself in. Tony Keller was still asleep in the recliner in the living room and completely oblivious to the world around him. Elliot grabbed the man up and shook him and slapped him to wake him up.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Tony asked when he finally regained consciousness.

"Where's Toni?" Elliot asked.

"I don't know," Tony's head swayed to the side and he squeezed his eyes shut for a second, "She was going to take a bath at…" he looked at the clock, "An hour ago."

"Where's the bathroom?" Elliot asked him.

He followed Tony through the house and they came to a room near the back. Elliot banged on the door a couple of times and there was no response. He kicked the door open and both men saw Toni in the tub, unconscious, and starting to sink below the surface. Elliot raced over to the tub, grabbed a towel and put it around Toni as he pulled her up and out of the tub. He tried to wake her up but it was to no avail; he carried her over to her room and put her down on the bed and opened the windows.

"She have a robe or something?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah," Tony replied.

"Get her in it and get her outside, now," Elliot said, "I'll call the fire department."

"Fire department?" Tony repeated as he wrapped Toni up, "What for?"

* * *

"Carbon monoxide poisoning?" Tony repeated what the firemen had told him, "How did that happen?"

"Toni said you guys had gotten the flu," Elliot said, "How long have you had it?"

"A couple of days," Tony answered, "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Carbon monoxide poisoning is often mistaken for the flu because the symptoms are the same," Elliot told him, "A couple days ago…that's right after Jack was shot."

Tony didn't seem to be paying much attention; he looked over at his daughter who was on a gurney by the ambulance, with an oxygen mask on her face which she was trying to remove.

"What do you make of it, Lennie?" Elliot asked.

"Well maybe it's me, but I seem to recall a case from a couple years ago, this woman was found dead in her home, her skin was bright red, that was an extreme case of carbon monoxide poisoning. The guy Jack was trying had worked on her heater a couple weeks before. However, that's not what happened here. These guys were being poisoned gradually, in which case if this was an attempted murder, will be very hard to prove because these sorts of things happen all the time."

"Mr. Keller," Rey said, "Have you had your water heater checked lately?"

"What lately?" Tony asked, "We only moved in a couple weeks ago."

"Who lived in the house before you did?" Rey asked.

"Hell if I know," Tony said.

"Is there anyway somebody could get in and get access to your water heater, your stove, something that could cause the leak?" Rey asked.

"I," Tony started to answer, then something came to him, "Well one of the cellar windows was broken when we got the place, I haven't gotten anybody to come out and fix it yet…I suppose somebody could crawl in through that. Excuse me, I have to see how my daughter's doing."

The detectives followed behind him. Toni had gotten the oxygen mask off and was fighting with the paramedics.

"How're you feeling, Miss Keller?" Lennie asked.

"Oh swell, I always like the whole neighborhood to see my business," she said as she pushed down the bottom of her robe, "Especially when it's so damn cold out!"

"She's feeling better," Elliot said.

"Mr. Keller," Lennie said, "Until we can determine what caused the leak, I don't think you two should stay here. Is there a place you can go, a friend, a relative's?"

"No, there's just us," Tony said, "We can go to a motel."

"This might be an attempted homicide," Rey told him, "Maybe you'd better let us escort you to a place where nobody will find you."

"No thanks," Toni said, "Nothing personal, but you guys don't have the best track record for protecting your witnesses."

"No offense taken," Lennie replied, "But assuming that this wasn't an accident…"

"It wasn't an accident," Toni shook her head.

"What makes you say that?" Rey asked.

"Somebody's been calling the house," she said as she tightened her robe, "He said if I talked to the police, they'd kill us."

"Did you recognize the voice?" Lennie asked.

She nodded, "Sure…it sounded like my dad, and Elliot."


	5. Chapter 5

"This is stupid," Elliot said, "Calling my wife to verify where I was three nights ago."

"Well if it _is_ stupid," Lennie said, "You should have no problem doing it to clear yourself. Right now you're the only other likely suspect we have so far. Let's face it, there can't be too many people in the world with a voice that close to yours."

"You really think I'd shoot Jack?" Elliot asked.

"No, but I don't know I'd put you above making threatening calls," Lennie replied, "If you thought you could get away with it."

The phone Rey was holing rang once, then again, and then somebody picked it up, "Hello, Mrs. Stabler? This is Detective Curtis at the 2-7. This is just routine procedure here…can you tell us where Elliot was three nights ago? Uh huh…the whole night? Okay, you're sure about that? Uh huh…okay, that's all we needed to know, thank you."

"Told you," Elliot said.

"Okay, so if it's not you," Rey said as he hung up, "And it's not Tony Keller, who else is there around here who sounds like the both of you?"

"I don't know," he replied, "But I have an idea whoever this guy is, he's laughing his ass off at watching us chase our tails. Now where's Toni?"

"She was taken to the hospital to be examined," Lennie said, "The official word is she's staying there for a couple days, for all anybody knows, she's still in a room at Mercy General."

"But she's not there?"

"They were moved to a hotel where hopefully, nobody can find them," Rey told Elliot, "We're going out there later to speak with them again and see if Toni can remember anything else from that phone call."

"Jack was right," Elliot said, "He knew that the shooter was going to try and get rid of them now that we've excluded them as suspects."

He realized that both of the homicide detectives were staring at him. "What?"

"If that's the case, you might consider getting your own family into hiding for a while," Lennie said, "We can't afford the six of you coming up dead in your home."

* * *

"Can't you people ever leave us alone?" Tony asked.

"Believe me, Tony, we're not harassing you guys for the fun of it," Lennie said, "But we need to talk to your daughter, where is she?"

"She's in the shower," Tony answered.

Lennie turned to Rey and murmured to him, "Boy she's a clean girl."

Lennie went over to the door to the bathroom and opened it up and called in, as he was met with a curtain of steam, "Miss Keller?"

"Who's that?"

"It's Detective Briscoe," he answered, "Would you mind putting something on and coming out here for a few minutes?"

"Okay, hold on."

Lennie closed the door and went back into the main room and joined Rey on the couch. The bathroom door opened and Toni stepped out wrapped in a bath towel and one of the hotel's bathrobes.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We need to ask you some questions about the phone call you said you received," Rey said.

"Said she received? Don't you guys believe her?" Tony asked.

"Mr. Keller, were you there when the call was made?" Rey asked.

"…No."

"No," Toni answered, "He was out when the call came."

"What time was this?" Rey asked.

"Wait a minute," Lennie said, "You said somebody had been calling the house, meaning it was more than once, right?"

She nodded, "First couple of times there wasn't anybody there, I thought it was just some crank…next time he called he said if I talked to the police, we'd be killed."

"And did you hear anything in the background?" Lennie asked, "Something that might give us an idea where he was?"

"No, there was some static on the phone, and him, and then it just went dead," Toni answered.

"Did he call again?" Lennie asked.

"No."

"What time did the last call come in?" Rey asked.

"About 10 this morning," she said.

"A few hours before the leak in the furnace kicked up," Lennie noted.

"On the way in," Rey said, "We didn't notice anybody posted here."

"That's because there aren't any," Tony said, "We don't want the cops coming in here and pointing a neon arrow our way."

"No offense, Mr. Keller," Lennie said, "But you haven't done that great a job to keep the two of you safe _without_ our help."

"Well this is a very fancy hotel," Tony told them, "If something goes wrong with the water heater here, I'm sure they'd be on top of it."

"That's true, but since we don't know who this guy is, he, or somebody who might work for him, could come here disguised as somebody bringing room service, or…"

Tony laughed, "No room service, I go out and pick up our meals from the place around the corner."

"Well Mr. Keller, the idea of hiding out is you don't go out in public and show everybody where you are."

"I'm not an idiot, I know that…I never come back to the hotel the same way, that's something they teach you in the military, you never make the same route back twice."

"Oh, you're an army man?" Lennie asked.

"No," Toni said, "He just knows how they do."

"Well, I still think you'd be better off with a cop nearby," Lennie said as he and Rey got up, "However, that's all we needed to know for now, so we'll see you later."

The detectives showed themselves out, leaving the two Kellers alone again.

"They better find this guy soon," Tony said to his daughter, "This whole thing's about to drive me crazy."

Toni didn't respond. She seemed distracted and she wouldn't look at him, instead she kept her gaze towards the floor.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked.

She looked up at him and said, "Daddy, there's something I didn't tell the police."

* * *

Serena had gone to the hospital that afternoon to see how Jack was doing. Almost the first thing he said to her was that he wanted her to go to his home and bring a change of his clothes so he could walk out of there with some dignity.

"The doctors said you have to stay here under observation still," Serena told him.

"I don't care," Jack said, "I'm either going crazy in this place or if I'm not going crazy, then somebody's still trying to kill me."

"What are you talking about?" she asked him.

"They've got me on something, morphine perhaps, whatever it is, I can't tell if the things I've been seeing are real or some drug fantasy. The last three nights I would swear somebody has been in this room, but I wake up and I'm alone," Jack said, "But there's no guard on watch out there, meaning anybody could be coming into this room."

"Have you told anybody?" Serena asked.

"Of course not, if they didn't already think I was crazy, that would convince them," Jack said, "I'm getting out of here."

"I got off the phone with the detectives before I got here," Serena told him, "The Kellers have been relocated to a hotel for the time being. Toni Keller told the police that somebody who sounds like her father and Elliot Stabler had called the house warning her not to talk to the police."

"And a few hours later, they're being poisoned to death by a leak in their water heater," Jack said, "Whoever's behind this clearly isn't just screwing around."

"So where would you go?" Serena asked.

"I don't know, but any place has to be better than this God forsaken hospital," Jack replied.

"The man who shot you has to know where you live, you won't be safe if you go back there," Serena told him.

Jack started to get up from the bed but he clutched at his chest and fell back against the pillows, moaning.

"You're not recuperated enough to get out of here yet," Serena told him, "You're going to have to wait. I'll talk to the detectives and get them to post somebody outside your door."

"I won't hold my breath," Jack replied.

* * *

Tony hung up the phone and sat down on the couch next to his daughter.

"Well?" she asked.

"Elliot's in the clear," Tony said.

"He should be, there's no way he could've done this either," Toni told him, "Did he say anything else? Did he say how Jack's doing?"

"Elliot says the same thing of what they all say," he said, "Jack isn't thinking like the victim of a shooting, he keeps thinking like a lawyer."

"Why shouldn't he?" Toni asked, "Oh the defense attorneys are going to just love this. First, I did it, then you did it, then Elliot did it, then it'll be whoever the hell they find next. A good attorney is going to stir up enough reasonable doubt for the jury that they'll never convict the guy who _did_ do this."

Tony didn't say anything to his daughter immediately. He just leaned back against the couch cushions and thought. When a thought finally came to him, he turned to his daughter and said, "If they ever _do_ find the guy responsible for this and arrest him…maybe there's a reason everything that's happened so far would make good ammunition for the defense."

Toni turned and met with his inquisitive gaze, and she realized what he meant.

* * *

"You want to what, counselor?" Anita asked.

"Jack says that somebody's been coming into his room every night," Serena told him.

"They do that in a hospital, it's the nurses making their rounds, they wake the patients up to see if they're asleep," Lennie commented from his desk.

"No, Jack says by the time he wakes up, whoever was in the room is gone," Serena said.

"Just out of curiosity, how hard is Jack squeezing his morphine drip?" Lennie asked.

"You can't be serious."

"Alright, if it'll make you feel better, we'll send one of our blue boys to watch his room," Van Buren told her.

"And you better send somebody to watch the Kellers' room as well," Serena said, "Toni Keller is the only other witness to the crime other than Jack and the shooter, if anything happens to her…"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Lennie told her.

"Hey Lennie," Rey said, "I just thought of something."

"What?"

"As far as the public is concerned, Toni Keller's at the hospital, right?"

"Yeah, so what?" Lennie asked.

"Where's her father supposed to be?" Rey asked him.

"Huh?"

"Nobody said he's supposed to be in the hospital too," Rey said, "Meaning he'd go home, doesn't it?"

"Probably, so what?"

"When the leak in the water heater got worse, both of the Kellers were in the house, suppose both of them are intended targets?"

"Meaning if Tony Keller went back home," Lennie realized what Rey was getting at, "And our shooter knows this, he may start calling the house again."

All eyes turned to Anita who bit the inside of her cheek and said, "Alright, we'll get some men into the house to watch the phone and see if this guy calls again, but I gotta tell you, Miss Southerlyn, I think we're chasing our tails here."

* * *

Jack opened his eyes just as he felt the person who entered the room standing above him. He looked, and there was no one. The room was the same as it had been all day, and the day before that, and the day before that. Aside from the nurses who stuck their heads in every hour to see if he was asleep, there didn't appear to be any reason to think anyone had come into his room.

"I'm either getting old," he said to himself, "Or I'm going insane."

The door opened and he looked as a nurse came into the room carrying a package, "Mr. McCoy, somebody sent this in to bring to you."

Jack took the package, which was a thick padded envelope, from the nurse and thanked her, and then she was out the door again.

A package…who the hell would be sending him a package? Whoever it was had addressed the envelope like they were mailing it…it had his name and the name of the hospital and even the room he was in. He tried to think…who the hell knew what room he was being kept in? There were the police, and the Kellers, and Serena…had anybody even told his own daughter? He couldn't remember. He felt the package, trying to guess what was inside…if this turned out to be a bomb, he thought…

Then he suddenly remembered…where the hell was the policeman who was supposed to be assigned outside of his room? If there was one out there, why hadn't he intercepted the package and brought it in? Jack thought momentarily about calling the nurse back into the room but he knew that they only answered those buzzes about once every year. He looked at the package again and tried to think what it could be, and who could've sent it to him.

* * *

Elliot had gone back to the motel early the next morning to see how the Kellers were doing and was surprised to find that there had been no guard assigned to watch anybody coming or going towards their room. Elliot pounded on the door a couple of times but there was no response. He found a cleaning lady with a pass key to let him in and when he entered the room, he made a shocking discovery.

He quickly took out his cell phone and dialed Munch's number. Munch had gone with Lennie and Rey to see how Jack was doing at the hospital.

"Hello?"

"John, it's me."

"What's wrong, Elliot?"

"Toni and her father are gone. I'm here at their hotel room now…the officer who was supposed to keep an eye on them never showed up…yeah, I'm seeing everything, and nothing's missing. Their clothes are here, their suitcases, Toni's electronic typewriter…everything's here except for them."

"Yeah? Well join the club."

The three detectives entered Jack's private hospital room and found the bed empty and unmade.

"Jack's disappeared as well," Munch told Elliot.


	6. Chapter 6

Munch hung up with Elliot while the three detectives searched the hospital room. Rey got on his cell phone and called the Lieutenant as he stepped out of the room to speak to the nurses to find out who had been in the room recently. While he did that, Lennie looked over the room, trying to see if something was amiss and he found something under the bed and knelt down to get it.

"What'd you find?" Munch asked.

Lennie pulled up an orange padded envelope that had the top torn off of it.

"Looks like Jack got a package yesterday," Lennie said, and reached in to pull out the contents. It was a hardcover western novel with an inscription on the dust jacket's upper corner: To Jack: Get better soon. It was signed: Toni Keller.

"He never found out what it was," Lennie concluded.

"Great," Munch said, "We have three people missing who are connected to an attempted homicide, and nobody's seen them and nobody knows where they went. Where _could_ they be?"

"My guess," Lennie said, "They ain't hiding in the shower."

* * *

"Word gets out quick," Elliot said when he caught up with the other detectives.

"It's pandemonium out there," Lennie said, "Word got out that Jack's missing and that the Kellers are missing, and we're trying to find out what the hell happened to that policeman who was supposed to be on guard outside of Jack's hospital room, and why nobody showed up at the hotel either."

"There was no sign of a struggle at the hotel room, but the door was locked," Elliot said, "What about the hospital room?"

"Door wasn't locked, but there wasn't any sign of a struggle there either," Rey said, "And nothing to indicate Jack's in any immediate danger."

"Meaning no blood splatter but that doesn't tell us much," Munch responded.

"You said Toni had sent him a package?" Elliot asked.

"Zane Grey novel," Lennie said, "Put it in a padded mailing envelope, addressed it to him at his room at the hospital, like it was being shipped there."

"Only the nurse said that somebody had brought it in," Rey added, "She doesn't remember who but she said it looked like a delivery boy from some service."

"Now would you be able to tell if the writing on the book and the envelope _was_ Toni's?" Lennie asked Elliot.

"I don't know."

"A better question," Munch said, "What happened that Jack disappeared from the room _after_ he opened the package but _before_ he took the book out?"

"What time did the nurse say she delivered the package?" Elliot asked Rey.

"Well it came during the afternoon but she didn't get around to delivering it until about 9 that night."

"Alright, the nurse says a boy brought it in, if Toni did send it, who would she get to deliver it?" Munch asked.

"I don't know," Elliot said, "Tony Keller wouldn't get room service so nobody could sneak into the room, he went out and got their food from a 24-hour store on the next street from the hotel, I'm going to go down there and see if the people working there have seen him recently."

"Good for you but where do we start looking for Jack?" Rey asked.

"You don't suppose he'd go home, do you?" Lennie asked.

"I doubt it, he had to know it wasn't safe," Elliot said.

"Yeah but Elliot, they had to cut Jack's shirt and jacket off of him when he was taken to the hospital, don't you think a guy in a hospital gown's going to be easy to notice leaving the place?" Lennie asked, "Whoever got him out of there had to bring clothes he could wear out so he wouldn't draw attention to himself."

* * *

"Yeah, I've seen him before," the guy behind the counter at the store said as Elliot showed him a picture of Tony Keller, "He comes in about every day, usually twice. About everybody here knows him."

"Was he here within the last 12 hours or so, do you know?" Elliot asked.

"I don't think so but I'll check with the others."

Lennie went over to Elliot and said, "Nobody at the hospital remembers seeing anybody going to Jack's room other than the nurses and the doctors…and nobody remembers him leaving. Tossing the room for forensics wouldn't be much use because God knows how many people have been in that room lately, and how often they probably clean the place."

"What about the package?" Elliot asked.

"Had Jack's prints on it, one of the nurses, Toni's, and somebody else's," Lennie said, "We can't figure out yet who the fourth person was."

The cashier came back and told Elliot that nobody at the store had seen Tony Keller within the past several hours.

"Okay," Elliot took out a picture of Toni, "Was she in here?"

The man looked at the picture and said, "Yeah, I remember her…she came in, got a chicken salad sandwich and asked for 20 dollars in quarters…I told her I only had 10, she took them anyway, said she needed to make some phone calls."

"What time was she in here?" Elliot asked.

"My shift started at 1:30, my guess…probably 2 this morning."

"Thanks."

The two detectives left the store and headed out to their cars.

"Okay, so it's a good guess the Kellers weren't kidnapped," Lennie said, "But where are they now?"

"And who would Toni be calling that she'd next 80 quarters?" Elliot asked.

"Elliot," Lennie thought of something, "Do you know if Toni would eat a chicken salad sandwich?"

Elliot made a face and said, "Bleck, I don't think so."

"Would her father?"

"I doubt it."

"But Jack does," Lennie said, "So…"

"So they're together," Elliot finished the thought.

"It would seem so," Rey replied.

"Of course the only problem is finding out where they are _now_," Lennie pointed out.

"They were in here at 2 o' clock this morning," Elliot said, "That's over seven hours ago."

"Where would the Kellers go?"

"Other than back home, I don't know," Elliot said.

Elliot's cell phone rang and he answered it, "Hello?"

"Hi Elliot…"

It was Toni.

"Where the hell are you?!" Elliot demanded to know.

"Well that's a nice hello," she replied, "For your sake I sure hope you don't talk to your own kids like that."

"Toni! I went to your hotel room this morning and you guys were gone!"

"I know, we left last night after the detectives left," she replied.

"Where are you now?" he asked her.

"At a gas station."

"Where's your dad?" Elliot asked.

"He's at the diner next door."

"Toni, Jack disappeared from the hospital last night."

"Yeah I know, we took him," she told Elliot.

"You WHAT?"

"Elliot, can you guys come down here?" Toni asked, "I think we're about to figure out who shot Jack."

* * *

Jack sat at a booth in the diner with his back pressed to the wall as he tried to sleep. Unfortunately every time he tried and about succeeded, Tony Keller, who hadn't left his side for five hours, started talking about something again.

"I hate charmers," Tony said.

That one came out of nowhere. Jack opened his eyes and asked him, "What?"

"You know, those people that are soooo smooth that they can talk their way out of anything, make anybody love them, want to be with them," Tony said, "You must deal with people like that in court."

The sentences were starting to become coherent to Jack and he replied, "Killers and their legal aid alike…a charming serial killer is the most dangerous kind, and unfortunately there are too many of them."

"And prison's full of them," Tony told him, "I knew guys like that the whole time I was in Rikers. They just sit there with their toothy grins," Tony tried to show Jack but his looked more like a gopher's face, "Thinking they're oh so slick and that they have all the answers. I wanted to bash in every last one of their heads."

And considering that's how Tony went to prison in the first place, Jack was surprised he hadn't used it to his advantage when he'd had the chance.

"Or what I'd _really_ liked to have done with them is beat their teeth out of their mouth with a hammer," Tony said, "That would take care of their stupid, conceited smirks."

Going in and out of sleep again, Jack got out a mumbled, "I seem to recall Ben Stone trying a case like that once, a long time ago."

"Tony mentioned a name earlier, a guy you go up against a lot," Tony said, "Norman…Rosenstein…Rosenzweig…"

"Rothenberg?" Jack suggested.

"I think so," Tony said, "Is he a charmer?"

"No," Jack replied, surprisingly coherent for still being as doped up as he was, "Randolph Dworkin is a charmer…"

"Who?!" Tony asked.

Jack opened his eyes again and said, "A more appropriate term would be 'what'. Do me a favor and don't _ever_ go to a courtroom he's in, you'd kill him, I'm sure of it. He was a charmer, Norman Rothenberg is just sure of himself."

"Since when do the two exclude each other?" Tony asked.

Jack just looked at Tony and didn't say anything.

"Anyway, I can't stand the bastards, they think they can get around anything with their charm. The criminals don't bother me so much, but when it's the attorneys doing it…I'd just like to bash in all their skulls…oh, not you though, Mr. McCoy."

"No offense taken," Jack tiredly responded, "I knew I wasn't too popular but I had no idea I was this well hated. If this case is taken to court, and we lose, it's going to be open season on lawyers."

"That's a two-way street though," Tony said, "We can turn it one way and make it open season on _defense_ attorneys."

Tony looked and saw Toni coming back from the window.

"Are they here yet?" he asked.

"Nothing yet," she replied.

"Well I wish they'd get here soon so we can get this over with," Jack commented, "I'd like to get out of this place and go back home."

The diner's front door opened and Elliot stormed in and glanced at the tables and the booths until he saw Toni and her father and Jack over near the back.

"What the hell is going on here?" he demanded to know.

"It's a long story," was all Jack had to say.

* * *

"You know, Lieutenant," Jack said to Anita when they arrived at the precinct a short while later, "I've had quite an unusual life, I've gone through several unpleasant experiences…I've had my life threatened, I've been thrown in jail, I was shot, but being kidnapped…this was a new one for me."

"Exactly what _did_ happen last night, Mr. McCoy?" she asked him.

"I haven't gotten all the details yet myself," Jack said, "All I know is that at about three in the morning, the Kellers busted into my hospital room, and busted me out of there, and we spent a better part of the night going through the back alleys of this town."

"What for?" Van Buren asked.

"Well for one thing, they wanted to make sure we weren't being followed," he explained, "Toni Keller said she had an idea, that she had to make some phone calls, but she had to do it on a phone she knew wasn't tapped."

"And how often is a payphone tapped?"

"You're in more of a position to answer that than I am," Jack said knowingly.

"And where is Miss Keller now?" Anita asked.

"Explaining everything again to the detectives in another room," Jack answered.

"Then what are we doing in here?" she asked him.

* * *

"One thing I found out, Elliot," Toni said, "The former ADA Ben Stone, is an unusually polite man to wake up at four o' clock in the morning."

"Why were you calling him?" Elliot asked.

"Well, as I said, my father and I were trying to figure out who would want to shoot Jack. Now one thing that we kept looking at was the fact that everybody said the same thing, Jack wasn't thinking like a normal person, not like the victim of an attempted murder, but like a lawyer, a _prosecution_ lawyer. You know he intends to try this case himself."

"I don't get the connection," Elliot told her.

"Okay, he's thinking like a lawyer. This goes to court, what's the other lawyer going to say? First, I did it, then Dad did it, then you did it, then who else?"

"That's their job."

"But with a list that long the jury would hang in a minute unless it could be proven who _did_ shoot Jack."

"So what, you think it's somebody in the legal system?" Elliot asked.

"Definitely somebody connected to it," Toni told him, "And I thought the best place to start looking would be among all the lawyers _and_ their clients, that Jack has butted heads with over the years. See if anybody stuck out."

"And?"

"Well as it turns out, a lot of them were working the courts before Jack replaced Ben Stone, and I figured we shouldn't take any chances on missing somebody. So to get any additional names, I had to call Ben Stone."

"What did he say?" Elliot asked.

"Well I read him the list of lawyers Jack's crossed paths with to see if any matched the ones he dealt with. A few did and from there, I got the names of several of those attorney's assistants _and_ their clients, so we know who all there is, so we can find out where all they are and what they're all doing."

"And?" Elliot asked.

"I spent two hours getting names from Ben, and another four hours finding out where everybody is. Several are dead, some retired, a lot of them got the hell out of New York, some remain, and some are still working at the same courthouse where Jack works."

Toni went over to the door, opened it and Elliot followed her out of the room and out into the hall to meet up with Jack, Tony and the other detectives.

"So now what?" Elliot asked her.

Toni looked to the entrance of the precinct. The others looked and saw what appeared to be a middle aged man in a bad business suit come in, and already they could tell he had an air about him.

"What's that?" Toni asked.

"That's Gerald Austin," Jack said, "He was Norman Rothenberg's assistant when Stone was still A.D.A."

"Oh yeah?" Toni asked, "What rock has he been hiding under? Where's he been all these years?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know."

"Mr. McCoy!" Gerald said as he came over to them, "How are you feeling?"

"I've been a lawyer long enough to know never answer their questions," Jack replied, "But I have one for you, where have you been all these years? I don't remember seeing you around since you worked for Norman, oh...about 10 years ago wasn't it?"

"Well I do try to keep busy," Gerald answered, "I was so relieved to find out that the police found you alright."

"Word gets out fast," Jack said, "A man never knows how many people appreciate him until he's flat on his back...or for that matter, how many people are glad that he is."

Toni went over to the defense attorney and stared at him.

"Are you Gerald Austin?" she asked him.

"Why yes I am."

"Well what the hell are you doing here?" she asked, "Come to see one of your lowlife friends in the clink? Or maybe you came down to see somebody who likes to rape and beat the shit out of women, and see about getting him three weeks probation."

The corners of Gerald Austin's mouth turned up into a sickening smile and he laughed conceitedly and said, "What a sense of humor, I hope you'll be able to maintain it when you're in prison for attempting to assassinate New York City's leading district attorney."

The hallway of the precinct exploded in an eruption of outbreak and disbelief at that statement.

"I don't know why everybody is so surprised," Gerald said, "Her history shows she's a walking time bomb, it's just a wonder she hasn't killed more people than she already has. First Tobias Wentworth, and then she tries for Jack McCoy."

Toni lunged at him ready to rip his throat apart, but her father and Lennie and Rey pulled her back.

"You see?" he said, "Violence is in her blood, she's like a wild animal. I want her arrested."

"You're defense," Munch told Gerald, "Since when do you dictate who's guilty?"

"I am only looking out for the best interest of everybody involved in the justice system," Gerald insisted, "If she would try for one lawyer, why not another? And she already attacked two police officers."

"One," Lennie corrected him, "She never attacked me."

"Besides," Munch said, "What you have is a pesky little matter about burden of proof not met. There's no evidence to even suggest that she…"

"The evidence suggests plenty, _detective_," Gerald replied, "And I think that this kidnapping of the district attorney from his own hospital room in the middle of the night only further determines her part in it."

"You're crazy," Toni said, "You should've been in the madhouse instead of me."

"And you they should've never let out," Gerald replied.

"If you're going to resort to childish tactics like that," Jack said to him, "I don't see how you could even claim to have any kind of case against her."

"Toni Keller has a problem with authority figures, it's no secret," Gerald said, "All her life she's evaded police, and manipulated anybody she could to help her. Of course it's no secret where she gets it from," he said, looking directly at Tony.

"Hey Texas," Tony said, maintaining a calm tone, "Your neck looks a little stiff, come over here and let me fix it for you."

"More threats, and why not?" Gerald asked, "Bloodshed is all these people know."

"These-people?" Tony repeated, emphasizing each word, "_These people_, _those people_, _you people_, isn't that what Hitler said about the Jews?"

Jack could see what Gerald Austin was pulling. After the Tobias Wentworth incident, it was no secret that Toni had a temper _and_ a breaking point. And it seemed he was trying to push her to that breaking point, to make her attack him, to try and prove his point.

"I don't know what kind of game you're pulling here, Austin," Jack said, "But it's not going to work."

"Oh will you stop acting like a lawyer, Jack?" Gerald asked, "Or at least act like a _good_ one. Why do you want to protect her? Anybody who would try to kill a member of the district attorney's office…" he started to say.

"I never tried to kill anybody," Toni told him.

"Your prints were on the gun, nobody else's were," Gerald said, "The only question is why you would try to kill Jack McCoy after he helped and got you off your last murder rap. Maybe it was because you resented being locked up in the insane asylum."

Toni was starting to lose it, that much was noticeable to anybody paying attention, but Gerald kept badgering her.

"Or maybe you shot him because he told you he wouldn't help you the next time you broke a man's neck. Or maybe you were planning to shoot the next victim just like you _shot_ Jack!"

"I wasn't trying to shoot Jack!" Toni finally exploded, "I WAS TRYING TO SHOOT YOU!"


	7. Chapter 7

Jack's eyes opened wide when he heard that.

"What do you mean you were _trying_ to shoot _him_?" he demanded to know.

That was the question that everybody wanted to know the answer to. Toni had Lennie and Rey holding her back, otherwise she would've jumped on Gerald by now. She stared daggers into him as she said, "I picked up the gun that night because I saw you running away like the coward you are, I tried to shoot you so you couldn't get away, but when I saw it was Jack lying on the ground bleeding to death, I said to hell with you and called for help."

"I told you she should've stayed in that psycho ward at Bellevue," Gerald said to Jack, "She's a psychotic, she'll say anything she has to in order to save her own neck."

"I can prove it was you, you bastard!" Toni said as she struggled against the detectives' hold on her.

"How?" was the everybody's question.

"Let go of me, _let go of me_!" Toni told them as she slapped their hands away, "Elliot, I didn't tell you this, and I didn't tell these guys either, but that day that we got those phone calls, I set up my tape recorder incase the guy said anything we had to prove. I got what he said on it."

"But you said it sounded like your father, and Detective Stabler," Lennie said.

"I also said there was static…it was very loud, it's like when you try recording on a tape and you press the wrong button. But there wasn't anything wrong with the tape I used, so I listened to the tape again, and again, and again…my recorder has a button on it that can speed the tape up and slow it down, and it occurred to me that the threat was already recorded on a tape and played over the phone."

"That doesn't prove anything," Gerald said.

"You know you're not doing yourself any favors by talking," Toni said, "Because I experimented with that speed button, and I found out when the call was slowed down, it sounded like your voice, when it was sped up, _then_ it sounded like Elliot's." She turned to Elliot, "That's why I called all those attorneys this morning, to find out if I could match any of their voices to the one on the tape. It was very hard to get any of them to want to come down here in person, but lo and behold, _this_ one said he would. And here he is, and here," she patted the Walkman clipped onto her hip, "Is the tape that will confirm it's _his_ voice on it, threatening to kill us if we talked."

"The tape was altered with to match my voice, that'll never make it past the judge," Gerald said.

"Maybe not, but now that we have a prime suspect," she said, "The police can dump your phone records and see if you at any time called Jack's house the night of the shooting, and our house the day after. Of course I'm sure a guy who's learned as much about criminals as you have from defending them, you'd know better than to do that, the time you called Jack, that came from a payphone around the corner from where you shot him. Were you at the payphone when you played that tape for the call to our house? Or did you do that one on a disposable cell phone which is in the middle of a landfill by now?"

Suddenly the defense attorney wasn't looking so sure of himself. That told Jack all he needed to know.

"Oh my God…then it is true."

Quickly, too quickly for anybody to see it in time to do anything, Gerald reached into his jacket and pulled out a second gun and aimed right for Jack and pulled the trigger. Jack felt his body jump back against the wall as he felt the pain ripping through his chest again, he heard the groan of pain escape from his lips, and as he closed his eyes and opened them, and closed them again, he could hear all the noise being drowned out by a frightening silence.

* * *

Once Jack had made a statement in court that he was what they called 'a lapsed Catholic'. This was by no means an exaggeration or fabrication on his part. To him, the devil was not an allegory, but where he had stood regarding the idea of God and Heaven, that was something he hadn't had a straight answer to since he was a kid in Catholic school.

At that moment, he still didn't know if Heaven or Hell existed, but he had a feeling he was somewhere in between, and would soon be shoving off towards one direction, or another. He couldn't really see anything, there wasn't anything and anyone around, it was just a big, blurry, white light. The infamous white light, he thought to himself, that so many people who walked away from death claimed to have seen.

It hit him hard to realize that this could really be it. This probably was the end of it all. A fine way to end up, he thought. First he was shot, then he spent a better part of the week, in a hospital in a paper gown with weird people in white clothes coming in every hour to poke and prod him and see if he was awake. Then, he gets kidnapped out of his bed in the middle of the night and spends the next several hours driving through back alleys, some places he'd spent his whole life avoiding, and what did it all get him? More holes in the chest, and now he was dead, and now what?

Catholics were raised to believe in purgatory, but as Jack wasn't sure of his beliefs for anything else regarding an afterlife, he wasn't sure he believed in purgatory either. There were several things about the religion that he had never been able to understand, but so many others just seemed to blindly buy into without question. But if this was purgatory, then Jack was severely under whelmed with the experience. In fact, if he felt anything at all, he was starting to realize that it was he was pissed off at having died when he'd still had so much time left.

The blurry white light seemed to shift before him, it moved in ways of bending and flexing, and when it spread out again, he saw that there was something beyond it. It looked like a hospital corridor; long narrow floor with countless doors on both sides. Jack felt himself moving forward and saw the numbered doors passing him by. He was walking through the hall but had no idea where he was going. He happened to glance down and saw that he was back in one of his suits he wore in court. What the hell was going on?

He looked to the left and looked to the right, all the doors were closed and there didn't seem to be anybody else around. Suddenly, he found himself stopping at one door at the end of the hall. He looked at the door's number, and a memory sprang forth and he recalled that the number, matched the number on the door of the hospital room that his father had been kept in at the end of his life. Jack didn't want to go in but he felt his hand reach out and grab the knob, and he pushed it open and walked in.

The room was a blinding white at first but the shine and the glare faded away and he found that he _was_ in a hospital room. But it wasn't his father in the bed. As Jack walked over to the hospital bed, even though she was on her stomach, he recognized it as being Toni. She had stitches in her back and her hands were tied to the bedrails with leather restraints.

"Miss Keller?" he asked, hardly even recognizing his own voice.

She tried to turn her head to the side, "Jack?" She managed to see him, "What're you doing here?"

"I heard that you had a little accident," he said.

"Accident my ass," she replied, "I tried to kill myself, obviously it didn't work, and for some odd reason, they want to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"So I heard," Jack said, "A knife in the back? _Why_ in the back?"

"Well it _was_ a lot of trouble," she said, "But I didn't want to risk having some foolish impulse to live kick in at the last minute and try to take it out. I have a problem with blood, so I couldn't stick it in my chest…if I stuck it in my back, I couldn't see it and I wouldn't try to get it out."

"But they found you out anyway," Jack told her, "The question is, why?"

"Why?" she was somewhere between laughing and hysterics, "My mother is dead, my father is in prison and he's _never_ getting out, he doesn't even want to see me, I am in the NUT HOUSE because I killed a man. I killed a man, Mr. McCoy, and you know I didn't even feel a thing when I did it? They're never going to let me out of this place. WHAT have I to live for?"

Jack sat down in the chair next to the bed and suggested, a little humor in his voice, "Our late night chats?"

Toni wanted to scream, but it was a laugh that came out instead, and her whole body shook.

"I also hear you've been giving Detective Stabler a hard time," Jack said.

"He thinks he can help me," Toni said, "Nobody can help me."

"I think," Jack said, "If you truly believed that, you wouldn't have come back after all these years."

"Jack, look at the position I'm in, he can't help me. The only reason he thinks he can is because of his Catholic guilt."

"Don't knock guilt," Jack told her, "It's a very strong thing, a Catholic's especially."

"Jack, he _can't_ help me."

"Maybe not, but that's no reason to slam the door on him," Jack said, "He's gone through a lot of trouble to _try_ and help you, I think you need to be grateful for that much. Consider where he stands _being_ a Catholic. Suicide's the one sin that can't be forgiven."

"Only by man, they hold the outcome of that to God, or whoever they think runs purgatory and heaven," Toni replied, "Isn't it true, Mr. McCoy, that Catholics believe no matter _how_ detestable a person was in life, no matter what they did, that they will eventually become an angel in heaven and not go to hell?"

Jack wasn't able to stop the laugh that escaped from him, he told her, "I have an idea you'd make a _very_ good lawyer someday, Miss Keller."

"Hell on earth then," she said.

Suddenly the room was empty. Toni and the hospital equipment and everything in the room fell away, and he was surrounded by an empty white light again.

He thought he could hear somebody calling his name. He tried to remember if the dead were supposed to meet with anybody in purgatory. The voice sounded familiar to him and he tried to remember from where…no, it couldn't be his father, could it? That was all he needed, to be caught strangling his father with St. Peter at spitting distance. And he knew if it _was_ his father, he _would_ strangle him, dead or not.

No, no, it wasn't his father calling him. It was a deeper voice, one that he had known for a long time…Arthur?

Jack managed to get one eye half open and he saw Arthur Branch sitting in the chair by the bed. And it was then that Jack realized he was back in the hospital, and he was still alive.

"Again?" he asked, his voice little more than a whisper as he tried to sit up.

Arthur seemed to smile a bit as he said, "We were wondering when you were going to wake up, you had us all going there for a while."

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"Well, I always thought it would happen sooner or later but up till now I'd never seen it for myself, one of New York's finest lawyers has finally snapped. Gerald Austin is in Rikers pending trial for two attempted murders on you."

Jack groaned as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. "The son of a bitch shot me again?"

"And the girl," Arthur said.

"What?"

"His aim was off and hit her walkman, destroying the tape that's supposed to have his voice on it…but that was evidence that wouldn't make it past the judge anyway," Arthur said, "I think his actions have said enough for him."

The two men heard the clattering of women's shoes scuffing across the linoleum in the hall and Serena came in, "Arthur, is he up yet?"

"Yes, he's up," Arthur answered, "If he's all here yet, I don't know."

"You've got to see this," Serena went over to the TV and turned it on. The news channel was playing slowed down footage from somebody's cell phone camera. It was all of them in the 27th Precinct and Jack saw Gerald Austin reach into his jacket and take out his gun and fire. Jack got hit first and went down, almost immediately, with Van Buren and a couple other cops kneeling down beside him. Toni jumped at Gerald but not before he got out another round. She fell to the ground when she was hit but took him down with her. They struggled for the gun. Tony came up behind Austin and locked both hands around the man's neck and pulled him to his feet, and in fact actually lifted the man _off_ his feet and held him in the air for a second. He dropped Austin on the ground and throttled the man, then he slapped Gerald across the face and flung him over to Lennie and Rey who promptly arrested him.

The story cut to live footage of Gerald Austin, with a split lip which emphasized the beaten dog look on his face, cuffed with his hands behind his back, being hauled to a police car by two cops as a female reporter said, "Defense Attorney Gerald Austin was arraigned this morning and remanded without bail for two separate counts of attempted murder against the Executive District Attorney Jack McCoy. Austin's former law-partner, Norman Rothenberg, had this to say."

They cut to Norman standing, presumably in front of the courthouse with the reporter as he said, "I'm very disturbed about what happened to Mr. McCoy, it particularly disturbs me that these were the actions of a man who I have known and worked with for many years."

"Blah blah blah," Jack said, "Turn it off."

Serena shut off the TV, "At least somebody got the shooting on tape, he can't say it wasn't him."

"No, but you can be sure he'll plead insanity," Jack said.

"With his old partner at his side, defending him no doubt," Arthur added.

Serena picked up on something underlying in Arthur's tone, "You think Norman Rothenberg had something to do with this?"

"Gerald Austin studied and worked under Norman, it wouldn't surprise me, especially considering how many times he and Jack have butted heads," Arthur said, "And as many times as Norman lost."

"They couldn't beat me in court so they decided to resort to the law of the jungle," Jack said.

"No, that's Old West philosophy, fastest gun wins. So much for human evolution," Arthur commented.

"The papers are going to love this one," Jack said.

"The media has several angles to the story, probably very few of them true," Serena said, "They put out a story last night that you were DOA."

"Wishful thinking," Jack responded.

Arthur reached over and patted his knee and said, "My friend, when you return to your office, you might want to consider when you dress for work in the morning, to add a Kevlar under your shirt and jacket."

Jack laughed unenthusiastically.

* * *

Jack felt his eyelids pop up when he heard someone knock on the door. Well, he knew it wasn't one of the staff.

"Come in," he said.

The door swung open and Toni walked in. "How're you feeling?"

"Let me think," he replied, "I've been shot now twice in one week…that considered I think I'm doing very well, I understand Austin took a potshot at you too."

"The tape was ruined," she said, disappointment evident in her voice.

"It's just as well, seeing as that you had to alter the tape to determine whose voice was on it, it never would've made it as evidence," Jack told her, "But that was a very clever tactic of yours…you _knew_ he had another gun with him, didn't you?"

"I suspected," she said, "As much money as he makes it doesn't make sense the only gun he would have would be a piece of junk ready to fall apart, especially since he left it behind. I figured if he wanted to finish the job, he had to have another gun with him or he would have to get one soon. I didn't think he'd have the balls to bring it into the police station though, and it wasn't like we could've had somebody feel him up to find it."

"Well, at least we were able to catch him without anybody dying," Jack said, the he looked at her and to the door and asked, "Where's your father?"

"The police had some more questions to ask him," she said, "You don't think they'll try and arrest him for assault, do you?"

"The law's done screwier things," Jack told her, "But I highly doubt it."

"Jack," she said.

He looked at her and asked, "What is it?"

"Jack…you _did_ die."

He blinked, "What?"

"Right before the ambulance came, Daddy said that your heart stopped and so did your pulse. I…I think they pumped adrenaline or something in you to get it started again."

Then that white light crap might not have all been a dream, he realized.

"The son of a bitch _did_ kill me," he said, "Too bad I'll never be able to try him for that crime."

"That would make a hell of a heyday for the press," Toni said as she sat down, "But with 2 attempted murder charges, I think you're looking at the next best thing."

"We're going after him with more than that," Jack said, "Five counts of attempted murder."

"Five?" she asked.

"You and your father were poisoned by a water heater that had been tampered with, after he shot me in the station, he shot you, that's five," Jack said.

"If you can prove the water heater was tampered with, we can't," she said.

"It doesn't matter," Jack said, "A jury cannot dismiss what they hear, no matter what the judge says. No matter what we're left with at the end of it all, they're going to convict him and he's going to go away for 25 to life."

Jack saw where she was and saw where he was and he laughed, "We seem to have switched positions here."

Toni realized it and said, "From my own side, I can't complain. Have the doctors said how long you'll have to stay here this time?"

"Oh I think about a week," Jack said, "Though I'd feel a hell of a lot better about it if I knew what happened to the guard who was _supposed_ to be here the last time."

"Oh that?" Toni asked, "We got rid of them that night. They were going to put one at our hotel room too, but we knew we wouldn't be staying there so it would be a waste of the guy's time…and we figured if we busted you out of here, you wouldn't need one either, so, Daddy found out who were assigned to our rooms, called them up and told them their services were no longer requested. And I shouldn't think you'll have to worry this time, Jack, Gerald Austin is in prison."

"That may be, but we know that doesn't stop things from happening," Jack said.

"Given the…" Toni tried to find the word, "Details of this case, the judge said he can't have any visitors, any phone calls, or any mail. And in fact, I think I heard that he had a breakdown and had to be tossed into the hole. So nobody's getting to him who can help him right now."

"Well, there's that I suppose," Jack said.

"Look at it this way, Jack," Toni said, "You're going through a new experience, now you're getting a taste of the medicine you put your own witnesses through."

"Yeah," Jack clenched his teeth together as he said, "Not very comforting."

* * *

"Never thought I'd miss _this_ place," Jack said when he returned to his office a couple weeks later.

"At least nobody else has to break it in," Lennie commented, "So, are you going to be trying that son of a bitch?"

"Until a judge determines otherwise, yes," Jack said, "We're going to have Skoda analyze Austin to determine if his insanity plea holds any water."

"So what happened to the Kellers?" Lennie asked, "Did they pull up stakes and head for Vegas again?"

"Guess again," they heard.

The detectives and lawyers turned and saw Tony Keller and his daughter coming through the doorway, each of them carrying something.

"We heard you were returning to work today," Toni said as she handed Jack a two pound box of candy.

"Oh good," he said, "I was just wondering 'why put off getting dentures?'"

"Well you know what they say," Tony said as he gave Jack a big bottle of scotch with a big red bow on it.

"Candy's dandy but liquor's quicker," Arthur answered for them, "All that's missing is a big box of cigars."

"Those we couldn't get," Toni said, "But we figured since Jack cheated the Grim Reaper, he might as well live it up while he can."

"I'm touched," Jack dryly replied, "But I'm also not planning on going anywhere."

"I think that's the point," Tony said, "You weren't planning on getting shot either. Hey, McCoy, do you really think that Rothenberg guy's partly responsible for all this?"

"I'm not sure," Jack answered as he sat down at his desk, "It would make his job much easier if I wasn't here, but, even though he defends some of the worst killers in New York, I can't see _he_ would resort to ordering a hit on me. Though I've noticed in all his appearances on TV, he doesn't appear to be _overly_ distraught that his own partner would do this."

"I know," Tony said, "That guy grins _too_ much, he's too sure of himself, just like a charmer."

Jack picked up on that last word, and it stuck with him, but he wasn't sure why. The next day, he thought he got his answer.

* * *

Serena came in and interrupted Jack and Arthur and she seemed to be struggling with herself not to laugh, "Norman Rothenberg won't be smiling too much these days."

"What happened?" Jack asked, "Did somebody take a shot at him too?"

"No," Serena seemed to be losing the struggle, "I just got a call. This morning, Norman found his brand new BMW pulverized with the roof about taken off."

"What?" Jack started to laugh.

"According to one of the police who responded to the call…it looks like somebody used a blowtorch on it and tried to soften the metal up enough that it could be rolled back, like the lid of a sardine can."

"Well," Arthur was trying not laugh as well, and losing, "As I understand, he always wanted a convertible."

Jack got out a couple of good laughs before responding, with a semi-straight face, "I didn't hear that."

"Jack, you don't think that Tony Keller…" Serena started to say.

"I didn't hear that," Jack shook his head.

They heard a knock on the door and Skoda stepped in, "Well, I've just finished speaking with Mr. Austin."

"And?" Jack asked.

"Off the record, he's as sane as they come, on the record, yes, he's competent enough to assist his lawyer in his trial," Skoda explained.

"That's all I need to know," Jack said, "This is one case I think I'm actually going to have fun prosecuting. I just regret that I won't be able to try him for my murder."

The End


End file.
